“It’s unheard of, it’s lunar!” » In the corridors of the Jean-Nicolas Muller stadium in Strasbourg, no one really understands what is happening. The match between the reserve of Racing club of Strasbourg and Jura Dolois, scheduled for 2:30 p.m. this Sunday has just been canceled.
A basketball match in the same facilities
“We realized that there was a basketball game being played in the same facilities, with the same flow of people sharing the adjacent locker rooms and the same toilets, which are used by the players as well as some basketball spectators which pass through the flows of the corridor”, explains Nicolas Grandidier, delegate of the meeting. “There are specifications in the organization of a national championship match at the FFF, which stipulate that we cannot have the crossing of people, even from another football match. There, we are completely in another sport. »
The JDF is asked to change locker rooms… 5 minutes before warming up
The decision not to play this match was taken jointly between the delegate, the deputy director of national competitions, Laurent Vaichère, and the president of the organizing committee for national championship matches, Alain Desoeuvres.
In this long corridor, the right area was to be reserved for basketball but a Racing manager directed the Dole team into one of these locker rooms. Five minutes into the warm-up, the JDF was asked to change locker rooms. Unthinkable for Jura Dolois who no longer wanted to change rooms because the tactics were displayed and the players were changing. “We wanted to stay focused,” says coach Alexandre Pepe. On the other hand, we wanted to play, at no time did we want to change and refuse to play the match.
At 2:05 p.m., while both teams were on the field warming up, the decision was made: the match would not take place. In the corridors, the director of the Strasbourg training center, François Keller, paces back and forth, fuming. He assures that he will not stop there and will fight for this match to be played. In the process, the two captains are called by the referee and the delegate to sign the match sheet on a tablet which does not work. Finally, after a moment of hesitation, a paper and pen do the trick. “It’s the first time in my career that this has happened, although I’ve played quite a few matches,” smiles Dole captain Lucas Champommier.
The outcome of this meeting will be known after the holding of a commission organized by the FFF.
